Spitfire
by itslarayo
Summary: Read as Wally and Artemis try to find balance on the line between amicability and wanting the other to be on the receiving end of a very sharp object. Spitfire ship; 3-part series.
1. Douse

Disclaimer: Ha- no.

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><p>He walked. <em>Walked<em>.

Artemis should have taken heed of this when Wally calmly approached the study, leaned against the doorway, and crossed his arms. But because Artemis' opinion of how fast a person should move in everyday situations was considered tragically sluggish in comparison to Wally's standards, it somehow didn't strike her odd that the team's speedster didn't have the pedal to the metal as he came to her.

Which is why, when he didn't immediately spew out whatever stupid thing he wanted to say as quickly as he possibly could - and without the usual mischievous inflections his voice carried, she noted - Artemis found herself on edge _then_.

"Hey."

Though the time it took from her not noticing that he was walking like a normal human being to noticing that he was speaking like a normal human being was probably about the same reaction time someone had when Wally was in super speed mode anyway, so Artemis supposed it all worked out in the end. She snapped out of her reverie to respond.

"Hey."

Wally uncrossed his arms to shove his hands deep into the pockets of his jeans. "So..." he trailed off, dragging the word out the same way he was dragging his eyes across the walls of the study. _The hell?_ Artemis thought._ Is he trying to not look at me? Since when does Mr. Glare Bear do that?_

"What do you want?" Artemis snapped when he didn't continue. Wally jerked into an upright position, alert. His hands remained shoved in his pockets, and Artemis couldn't help but think he looked pretty stupid like that. Especially with the way he was staring at the floor like a wuss.

"Look, you know how in Bialya we, you know, didn't want to kill each other? I mean, how we kind of... got along?" He said quickly, though not because he could, or because he wanted her to hear his oh-so-clever thought as soon as possible. It was more like he just wanted to spit it out and get over with it. _What in God's name is happening here?_

Artemis set down her pencil with a sharp clack and turned in her chair to face her most hated teammate with a look that screamed 'no duh.' "Amnesia, remember? We didn't know how much we hated each other, and-"

He cut her off. It pissed her off something terrible when he did that, but at least he wasn't acting creepy anymore. "Yeah, I know, I know. I'm just... I think we started off on the wrong foot," he said with a shrug.

"No kidding, Wall-man."

"Would you listen for a second?" Wally snapped this time, bringing his hands out of his pockets to hold out in front of him incredulously. He stared her down, right in the eyes, and Artemis glared back defiantly. She enjoyed the dominance that came with sitting.

Wally took a breath before continuing, something Artemis couldn't recall him ever doing. "In Bialya, it was like we met under different circumstances, and we got along okay. I mean, don't you think that if we didn't start out like we did the first time-"

Oh no he didn't.

Artemis didn't exactly remember getting up, or marching up to Wally. But she didn't really give a shit because all she cared about at that point was giving 'Kid Flash' an idea of just how much of a total dick he was, and how happy she was to do so. "You mean the way YOU started out. YOU were the one that didn't want anything to do with ME from the beginning - all I wanted was to be a part of the team."

"I know! And I'm sorry!" Wally sighed. It wasn't as if he had been his usual obnoxiously sunny self during this whole exchange, but now he looked downright sorry - in both the apologetic sense and the pathetic sense.

"That's... what I'm trying to say - that I'm sorry for not giving you a chance. And that if I had, then maybe we could be tight, you know? 'Cause when we were together in Bialya and we got to kind of start over fresh, we had something going. Something good. Maybe we could've... been friends." The sincerity in his voice caught Artemis off guard. It made her feel vulnerable, and so she did the only thing she knew that would make her feel stronger:

"If you hadn't been such an asshole?"

She insulted him.

"I agree."

Wally sighed again, this time sounding not so much forlorn as just plain frustrated. "Sure. Fine," he said with a look of exasperation.

Artemis mentally congratulated herself on a job well done for getting Wally out of that funk.

"Okay. So where are you going with this?" Artemis asked, now genuinely curious as to why the subject was brought up. Though, as she gave her question a second thought, she wouldn't be surprised if he'd mentioned all of this for no good reason, or maybe just to present her with yet another argument detailing every reason why she did not belong on the team.

Wally instantly perked up, and his usual cocky grin was suddenly plastered on his face. Artemis cold have sworn that even his freckles looked brighter; it was as if Wally hadn't just spent the last few minutes with a raincloud over his head.

Yup, it was definitely another list of reasons why she sucked.

He could be so predictable.

"I propose that we pretend like we've never met - new beginning, blank slate, no strikes. Just like in Bialya."

To say the least, Artemis was not expecting him to say that. Suddenly uncomfortable again, she was beginning to miss how stupid Wally looked with this hands shoved in his pockets - at least that wasn't annoying like the way he waved his hands around to illustrate how excited he was about his 'brilliant idea' was.

"Then we can... go from there," he said with a shrug, as if it were so simple.

"So, what, we just forget about everything that's happened these past few months? All the comments and comebacks - every mean thing we've ever said and did to one another?" In the few months Artemis had been a part of the team, she'd heard Wally spout off some pretty hair-brained shit - usually to M'gann who, bless her heart, believed him - but this by far was the most insane.

"Exactly."

Artemis looked at Wally like he was crazy - because he was. "That's impossible. Those memories will always be in the backs of our minds, haunting us."

Wally smiled. "I don't believe in ghosts."

"You're impossible," Artemis said with a roll of her eyes and a tilt of her hips.

"But wouldn't that be endearing if you weren't so annoyed by it?" Wally fired back in what he probably considered his 'debonair' voice that made Artemis want to cringe from it's sheer stupidity every time he used it when talking to M'gann, Black Canary, Wonder Woman, the chick who worked at the diner the team liked to chill out at, the old woman who manned the cash register at the super market down the street...

"Ugh!" Artemis shot him a quick dirty look and turned her back towards him. She figured she could take this time to collect her thoughts and make a rational decision, but there weren't many options to choose from; either decline and forever hate each other, or take him up on his offer and make peace.

Artemis threw her hands up in defeat. "...I guess we can't get much worse than we are now."

"So is that a yes?" Wally was grinning when Artemis turned around. She couldn't believe she was letting him have this one.

"I guess. Just don't make me regret this."

"You got it." And with that, Wally disappeared from the room, only to reappear a second later. _Uh... okay...?_

"Hey! So I guess you're new on the team, huh?" Wally stuck out his hand towards Artemis for her to shake. She took it hesitantly, still wary and slightly confused by what exactly was going on. _This isn't some sort of elaborate trick, is it?_

Wally pumped her arm up and down enthusiastically. "The name's Kid Flash, or Wally if you prefer. How 'bout you, gorgeous?"

"Gorgeous?" Artemis didn't really know how to take the tacky term of endearment: on the one hand, he says things like that to girls so often that he's probably developed a weird habit; on the other, she did love having her ego stroked, even if it was a shallow compliment. There was the third option, too, that all of this really was just a trick, and Artemis was more than happy to keep that option open as an excuse to stay on guard.

"Oh, sorry, you don't like being called that? I just figure every girl deserves to know they're beautiful," Wally smiled and leaned against the doorway with an air of confidence that he was severely lacking earlier. Or was Artemis even supposed to be thinking about that? _This is _exactly_ why I thought this wouldn't work._

"No, it's fine, I guess... I'm Artemis." She was doing a poor job of playing along, she knew it, but who could blame her? This was all too weird - and why did he have to be so damn friendly?

"Artemis? Oh, right, you're Green Arrow's apprentice - goes with the archery thing, I see. Clever." Artemis was honestly surprised he caught onto that. Sure, Wally was smart, but he was a science geek, not a lit nerd. "So where you from? Around here?"

Finally, a real reason for her to be on the defense. "That's... personal," Artemis answered tentatively, a touch of caution in her voice. If he poked around in her private business, she'd have grounds to start hating him again. Which was definitely, beyond a doubt, what she wanted. No question. Right?

"You got the whole secret identity going, too, huh? Rob's the same way - won't even take of the shades around the team. But hey, that's cool by me," he shrugged nonchalantly. "I won't pry."

_Damn._

"Uh, thanks." Relaxing her shoulders - _Was I that obvious? Good God._ - Artemis decided that maybe being friends with Wally wouldn't be so bad - looking for openings for her to start hating him again was becoming tiring, anyway. "No problem. How 'bout I show you around town sometime?" Artemis was surprised that she didn't have to remind herself to not be grossed out by Wally putting the moves on her, never mind that he was a very brief celebrity crush of hers pretty much up until she met him the first time and her dreams were dashed against the walls. _Okay, if I can pretend we've never met, then I can pretend _that_ period of my life never happened, either._ "It'll only take, like, half a second," Wally continued when Artemis didn't respond.

"Yeah. Thanks. That sounds good," Artemis said mildly with a slow bob of her head. "It doesn't have to be at the speed of sound, though - I've got nothing better to do lately," she found herself saying. Did Wally have another super power that she didn't know about? Some sort of feel-good pheromone secretion? There had to be a reasonable explanation as to why Artemis didn't think a day around town with Wally wouldn't end in voluntary manslaughter - no way was she going to accept "he's actually a nice guy" or "you really just want to be friends with him" as the answer.

"Cool. Then it's a date," he smiled. The smiled he used when he was laying it on thick for M'gann, the one that made Artemis gag. True, it wasn't as sickening when on the receiving end, but it was weird and Artemis wasn't quite sure if she liked it.

"See?" Wally held out his arms as if to say 'look at what my genius mind produced!'. "That wasn't so hard."

Artemis smirked. _If you're gonna play the game, you gotta play by the rules._

"I don't know what you're talking about," she replied in a very convincing confused tone.

"You know, the whole 'let's pretend we never met' idea of mine. Pretty good, huh?" He crossed his arms across his chest, clearly proud of his cleverness. Artemis was more than happy to wipe that arrogant smirk off of his freckled face.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she persisted, forging a perplexed expression. "We have never met."

Wally's jaw dropped. He stood silent for a second, his eyes becoming narrower with each second until he was squinting at her, impressed. "...Oh, you're good."

"And isn't it endearing now that it isn't annoying?" Artemis threw back, loving the cruel irony she was dishing out.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

_Damn._

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><p>Wow. I haven't written in a long time. This probably sucks a lot more than I think it does, but I'm happy to submit it anyway.<br>I tried a completely new approach to writing with this story, in order to raise the word count and make the actions taking place within the story a bit clearer. No one proofread this, so I wouldn't be surprised if it's _too_ lengthy and everything gets jumbled up.  
>But at least I tried, right?<p>

So yeah, Artemis and Wally. How can you _not_ ship them?

Hope you enjoyed! I'd be happy to hear your feedback.


	2. Rekindle

Disclaimer: Nope.

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><p>"So, what's on your mind, beautiful?"<p>

Wally's sweet talk was still taking some getting used to. Hell, all of it was still taking some getting used to. Artemis and Wally hadn't known each other for very long at all, but it was certainly long enough for the roots of contempt to burry themselves deep into the ground, so that when they were forcefully ripped out upon the two 'pulling a Bialya, as Wally called it, only large gaping holes of awkward small talk and forced smiles were left behind for them to work with.

When they had finally gotten over that mess, things seemed to flow easily enough. Some of things that Wally did still got on Artemis' last nerve, such as the way he smiled like he was a freaking ladykiller, or the way he told her she looked sexy in her new jeans, or the way he complimented her perfect aim... but those kinds of little things, as numerous as they may be, were relatively easy enough to overlook for the sake of getting along.

Then there was the talking. It wasn't as though Artemis was a recluse or anything; she was human, and therefore had social needs to be met; but sharing wasn't really her cup of tea. The same couldn't be said for Wally, however. In fact, the very opposite could. Whereas Artemis was a bottle it up type of gal, Wally was keen to bottle poppin', and so Artemis found herself having more heart-to-hearts than she would ever care to have with anyone, fresh start or not.

Artemis took a deep breath and mulled over her words carefully as she dunked a french fry into the puddle of ketchup on her plate. "I totally screwed up the last mission. I left myself open during hand-to-hand like, four times; I lost my footing while scaling that fence in the alley; I even drew the wrong arrow at one point!" Satisfied with the thick coat of ketchup, she tossed the fry in her mouth. "Thank God I didn't fire the damn thing, otherwise the whole building would've come down."

She leaned her head on her hand, propped by her elbow. "It's like... I wasn't focused. Like I wasn't even trying."

Wally took a too-large bite out of his too-large burger. His _second _too-large burger, at that. "Please, you're just being hard on yourself." His muffled words of reassurance lost their affect thanks in part to the substantial portions of food crammed in his mouth. _Charming_, Artemis thought, narrowing her eyes crossly, finding the disgusting display in front of her somehow too intriguing to look away from._ The ladies must be lining up for you, huh?_

"You did great - and you looked hot as hell doing it," he continued after he swallowed and slurped down a large gulp of his soda, complete with an obnoxiously cheesy 'ah' at the end. He smiled that stupid Casanova-wannabe smile of his, and Artemis' fingers twitched with the hankering to rip it right off of his stupid freckled face.

"Would you cut that out?"

Artemis could have sworn she felt an actual something-or-other inside her snap. This - what was going on between the two of them - couldn't go on for a second longer. She couldn't take it. If M'gann (and every other poor girl Wally ever spoke to, for that matter) was cool dealing with Wally's shit, that was all fine and dandy. As for Artemis? There was no way in hell she was going to put up with it anymore.

"What?" Wally lowered his burger. He looked genuinely concerned, and for a moment Artemis almost felt bad that she was about to completely and utterly destroy the progress the two of them had made to get to this point. Aqualad, for one, would be severely disappointed.

"Quit being such a dick!"

She got over it quickly. It wasn't a good point to be at anyway, she told herself. Why that was exactly remained unclear to her, but it was a reassuring thought to think regardless.

"I don't und-"

"Ever since we decided to start over or whatever, you've treating me like I'm a piece of ass - the same way you'd treat any hot girl off the street. And frankly, it's bugging the shit out of me," Artemis snapped, then leaned back and crossed her arms. She didn't appreciate that the squeal from the old vinyl covering the seat took away from the drama of her outburst, but she was beyond caring about something so minute, and therefore continued. "I'd rather you hate me than consider me some random chick whose pants you think you could get into."

"I don't think you're a piece of ass!" Wally held his hands out in protest. "I just..." he struggled to find the words, "how else am I supposed to act? I mean, sure, I could treat you like shit like I did before, but that's not very productive, is it? Haven't you ever heard 'make love, not war'?" he paused, looking at her with confused desperation. "I-I don't mean it like that," he added quickly upon seeing her bitter glower.

"Whatever," Artemis said with a roll of her eyes. Unlike 'babe' and 'gorgeous,' she had no difficulties getting used to Wally's serious case of 'open mouth, insert foot' syndrome. "I just want you to treat me like - I dunno," she sighed, frustrated. _God, I don't even know how to explain this_. "Like _me_, and not like any other girl."

Wally quirked an eyebrow, and Artemis felt her stomach drop and her face grow hot with the realization that her words could be taken the wrong way. As in, the complete opposite way of how they should be taken.

Like hell she wanted to be treated specially by Wally. No - she just wanted him to not do or say anything to her that he would do or say to other girls. Was that so hard?

"What do you mean?"

"N-nevermind," she spat quickly. _Dammit! What the hell am I saying? _

Artemis took a moment to recover, and to convince herself that the diner had suddenly become several degrees warmer in the past few seconds, because there was absolutely no way she was blushing, even just a little.

"Look, friendship doesn't necessarily have to mean 'getting along.' Look at you and Robin - you guys are always dicking around and cock-blocking each other, but you're still heterosexual life partners."

Wally opened his mouth to object, but Artemis pressed on without giving him a chance to get a word in edgewise. "Why should we have to be all buddy-buddy when it's easier to set each other off? It's not like one of use has tried to actually kill the other," she leaned forward again, placing her folded arms on the table. "Besides, don't you miss making my life a living hell?"

Wally seemed to be considering this as he took another enormous bite from his burger, which encouraged Artemis to continue.

"And plus, maybe antagonizing each other is more productive than you think. Take this last mission; we both dragged the team down with all our petty mistakes."

"'We both'? I happened to do perfectly fine on the mission, thank you very much," Wally declared, raising his chin haughtily. Artemis happened to notice he had a sprinkling of faint freckles trickling down his neck, and when she felt a sudden desire to see exactly where they trickled _to_, she ripped her gaze away with a perfectly executed eye roll.

"Oh please!" she scoffed. "You call tripping on a garbage can lid and bowling over Superboy 'perfectly fine'?" She gave Wally a pointed look, and his face crinkled into a sour pout which spelled out victory for Artemis. _As usual_, she thought with glee.

"Anyway, the only thing we're doing differently is being nice to each other, so that's obviously the reason why we're screwing up so badly. Think about it - I bet you the entire check that you wiped out in the alleyway because you were trying to resist the urge to point out that I busted my ass falling off the fence."

"Psh! No I wasn't..." Wally said defensively. His gaze shifted to the side. _Aaaand there's the pout - that's two for mama, zip for Wally._

"Mhmm, sure. Just face it - we do better on missions because we're trying to prove to each other that we don't suck," Artemis said with a shrug. She began swirling another french fry in ketchup, her appetite returning after it had abruptly vanished. "Last night we were so caught up in playing nice that we lost our focus on getting things done right. What we need to do is go back to how things were before," she waved the dipped fry through the air as if it would help prove her point.

Wally sighed, long and slow. As he thought, he absentmindedly stirred his almost melted strawberry milkshake. "They do say competition breeds excellence," he agreed after a short silence, during which Artemis did _not_ stare at his long, knobby fingers as they grasped his straw.

Artemis sat up straight and snapped her eyes back to Wally's. "Exactly. And who are we to take that away from the team?"

"You raise a good point," Wally nodded. "It's been weird pretending to be nice and junk, anyway. Honestly I think it just made things worse, like I was giving myself the old bait-n-switch. No wonder girls are so catty," he sniggered, using a discreet burst of speed to dodge Artemis' wadded-up straw wrapper. "All right. Then let us toast," he raised his soupy milkshake, "to friendly rivalry."

Artemis smirked and raised her own watered-down soda. "Who said anything about 'friendly?'" she asked coyly. The clink of their glasses punctuated her point marvelously. "I've been dying to call you out on your shit since we first went with your stupid plan."

Artemis took a dainty victory sip and let the joy that came with watching the look of awe pass over Wally's face curb the taste of her water-diluted beverage. _Yeah, that's right, Wall-man. Load up the guns - it's open fire now_.

Wally set down his now-empty milkshake glass. He blinked once, twice, then ran his tongue over his upper lip to clear away the pink-tinted mustache. His mouth stretched into a devilish smile - one that Artemis had admittedly missed these last few weeks, as dumb as she had always thought it looked.

"Well then, if that's the case - you should've seen your face when you planted it. Damn near the funniest thing I've seen in a long time," he said airily as he casually slung an arm across the back of the booth, passing a glance over his fingernails.

Artemis let the words sink in with relish. The verbal warfares she so dearly missed brought about by Wally's smart-ass remarks were greeted with a warm embrace. _Screw sugar-coated sweet nothings - _this_ is the stuff I wanna hear._

"Is that right? What about you, _Flash Junior_? Giving away your position during a covert operation by _burping_ isn't exactly professional, now is it?" she fired back.

"Oh man..." Wally clapped a hand on his forehead and let out a short, spiteful laugh. "You know, I gotta say, I kind of missed you being a bitch."

"Aw, how sweet," Artemis cooed. She folded her hands under her chin, and Wally did the same. With the unwelcome pressure to be pleasant gone, Artemis now found the air much more breathable, and Wally much more bearable. She didn't have a doubt in her mind that he shared the notion.

"Well, I don't think anyone could have filled the void in my heart made by Wally the Asshole."

They smiled, and Artemis slid her hand across the table top, lifting it to reveal the check for their meal. "I believe this is yours," she practically sang, delighted by how the speed at which Wally's face fell served as a true testament to his rep as the 'fastest kid on earth'. He eyed the bill wearily.

"Damn."

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><p>So it wasn't until about thirteen minutes before I submitted this part that I started liking it. While writing this, I really struggled with describing what Artemis was feeling while 1) still keeping her in character and 2) continuing to take this story in the direction I want it to go. I apologize for any instances that do her character wrong haha<p>

On a different note, I'm surprised by how fast I was able to write this, especially amongst studying for midterms. Guess that means this newfangled way of writing works for me. Sweet.

One part to go! I hope you guys enjoyed this enough to stick around!


	3. Ignite

Disclaimer: Nuuuuup

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><p>Artemis raised her hand.<p>

_Slap_.

The banana fell from Wally's hand and tumbled towards the tile floor, his mouth still hanging open. _Like __a __freaking__ fish_, Artemis thought bitterly.

"Hey!" Wally exclaimed. As a firm believer in the five-second rule, he quickly bent over and scooped up the banana, righted himself, and turned to Artemis, looking extremely scandalized by her display of produce abuse. "The hell was that... for..." his voice trailed off when he saw exactly who stood before him with her arms crossed, eyes narrowed, and mouth turned down in a sour frown.

He knew exactly the hell that was for.

"You know why I'm here," Artemis sneered. Wally gulped loudly, his Adam's apple bobbing in his throat - the throat Artemis wanted to strangle more than anything. His eyes shifted nervously to each side, avoiding her gaze like he had been avoiding her all morning - leaving the rooms she entered, abruptly dropping conversations when she walked by, skipping mandatory combat training. But now he was a deer caught in the headlights of Artemis' sixteen-wheeler, and she had no intention of slowing down.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Wally said with feigned nonchalance, waving one hand as the other brought the banana to his mouth again. Artemis reached over and snatched the fruit from him and set it on the countertop.

"Oh please - spare me the crap, Wally," Artemis planted her fists on her hips. She leaned forward and, to further illustrate her unbridled anger, she prodded Wally's chest with her pointer finger, taking care to make sure her nail stabbed him with each poke.

"I want answers, and I want them now. Why the hell did you kiss me last night?" Unintentionally, the last words escaped her mouth as a low hiss - not as a whisper, mind you. She wasn't afraid of their other teammates overhearing the conversation taking place in the kitchen - it just wasn't any of their damn business. She spared a quick glance at the doorway, just to be sure that no one was walking by.

Wally shrugged. "Delusion, obviously," he answered, turning away from her and leaning on the counter.

Artemis grit her teeth in an attempt to keep her jaw from hitting the floor. "Yeah right," Her eyes narrowed further, much like when she was taking aim for a perfect bull's eye. _How __appropriate._ "You sped up to me without hesitating and kissed me, and I want to know why."

"No, seriously - it was delusion. Must be a side effect from being around all those Venom chemicals," said Wally. He waved his hand again, as though her words were merely smoke. "The real question here is why are you so angry about it when you obviously enjoyed it?" He cocked his head and peered into Artemis' eyes, smirking so triumphantly that his freckles practically glowed.

"D-did not!" Her voice was high and pinched, and she could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks. _God, __I__ couldn__'__t __come__ up __with __anything __better __than__ that? __What __am __I, __twelve?_

"Did to! Why don't _you_ spare _me_ the crap, Artemis - or was that _not_ a moan I heard you make when I laid one on you?"

Artemis practically jumped back from shock. _How __the __hell __am__ I __going__ to__ get __out __of__ this?_ Her thoughts were racing - and unfortunately for her, they all were racing to the heinous moment from the previous night's mission, which had been occupying her mind quite frequently throughout the day.

_No freakin' duh I thought it was a good kiss - I'd be crazy not to! I mean, God, the way he crushed me against himself - who knew he had the balls to take charge like that? - and turned his head just the right way... The way he ran his hands down my back and held on to my waist... And he knew exactly what to do with his tongue... Mhmm, his lips were soft, too... No! Snap out of it!_

"It wasn't! I-it was... I was choking on your disgusting breath!" Artemis was a poor liar by nature, and the added stress of being flustered was not helping her inability to fib. She bit her lip and shifted uncomfortably on her feet. For the first time since they'd met, Artemis was jealous Wally - she'd give anything right about now to have that super speed of his. Then she could zip from the room - and the humiliating conversation - and escape to a far, far away place - preferably a deep cave in a secluded location.

"Uh-huh, yeah, sure," Wally said dryly, his smirk growing ever larger. He seemed extremely satisfied with the way their little chat was going. "Why don't you just admit you're madly in love with me?"

The cocky tone his voice carried drove Artemis insane. _He__ thinks __he__'__s __won! __That __little __bastard! __Oh, __you__ are_ not _getting __off __that __easy_. "_Me_ in love with _you_? Ha!" She threw her shoulders back confidently, practically giddy from the excitement of having a chance to turn the tables. "How 'bout the other way around, Wall-man? I totally saw you gawking at me during the mission."

Wally made a small, strangled sound, his eyes growing wide, practically bulging from their sockets. It was his turn to shift uncomfortably this time. "Like I said; delusion," he shot back with a heated glare, lower lip protruding to form a childish pout. Though not as terrible a liar as Artemis, Wally was fairly obvious when he bent the truth.

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks."

"Yeah? Well methinks you're a bit on the defensive side, too - eh, Arty?"

"Whatever, we're getting off topic!" Artemis threw her hands in the air. This mess had completely spiraled out of control. _And__ to __think, __I __thought __this __would __be__ an __easy __win!_ She balled up her fists and brought them down, stomping her foot. "Just cut to the chase and tell me why the hell you kissed me!"

"No reason," Wally's voice was strained. "It just... it just happened!" His hands were waving frantically about, and it Artemis realized that he was probably just as confused and frustrated by all of this as she was. _Whatever, __he __started __this. __He__ owes __me__ an __explanation._ "It - I dunno - felt right!" He managed to stammer out after many bumbling false starts.

"'It felt right' for you to shove your tongue down my throat?" Artemis hissed again. She wanted to scream at Wally - at that _idiot_ - but it was bad enough that Superboy could probably hear everything they were saying; giving Robin this kind of juicy info to use against either of them was completely out of the question. "And when exactly did I give you my permission to do _that_?"

"Hey, I didn't hear you protesting," said Wally matter-of-factly. His stupid face wasn't smug like it had been when he accused her of liking the kiss the first time; he wasn't playing games anymore, Artemis knew, though she didn't know whether she should be relieved or worried by this change of heart.

"Because I _couldn__'__t_! Not while being muffled by your fish lips - and then you even had my arms pinned down, so I couldn't shove you off!" It was a pretty weak argument, but Gotham be damned if Artemis wasn't going to fight tooth-and-nail until her dying breath.

Wally scoffed. "Oh, come _on_, we both know that's a load of shit - you could snap my arms like twigs if you wanted to!" _The__ hell?_ It was very weird indeed for Wally to admit to such a thing. He was always making up some ridiculous excuse to explain why Artemis handed his ass to him during combat training, and yet here he was declaring it loud and proud - and without a hint of sarcasm, to boot.

"And risk the mission by putting out one of my own teammates? Please, I'm not an irresponsible idiot like you!" Artemis flipped her ponytail over her shoulder and crossed her arms. Whether Wally was being his usual dick-headed self or not was the least of her worries; she had her pride to maintain.

"Just admit you liked it and that you're only pissed because you don't want to say you've got the hots for this 'irresponsible idiot'!"

Artemis gasped. "That is _so _not why I'm pissed!"

"Then what is?"

"You ruining this!"

"Ruining what?"

"_This_!" Artemis gestured between the two of them. She struggled for a clearer explanation when Wally titled his head to the side like a sad and confused puppy. _Not __in __a __cute __way_, she added mentally. "The way we argue! I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm not exactly a little cream puff like M'gann - I don't do the nice thing. If we don't have this, we have nothing." Artemis hands fell to her sides. She felt drained, as though she had just sprinted around the entire base of Mt. Justice.

"So then you're scared of having nothing being between us?" Wally asked teasingly. The expression on his face was weird, like he was hesitating. Either way, the burning desire to punch out the speedster's lights welled up inside Artemis again.

"That's not what I meant!" She hollered.

"It's what you said!" He yelled back.

Artemis had always found Wally to be _so_ incredibly infuriating, but this was an entirely new level for him. "God, you are such a pain in the ass!"

"But apparently you like that about me!" To Artemis, it seemed very evident that Wally took much pleasure in throwing her words back into her face and rubbing them in, despite the apparent lack of joy anywhere on his person.

_How is it possible for someone to be so damn immature?_

"What does it matter anyway? You're still going to try and change things!" Artemis' voice was quaking as she made every effort possible to not do one of two things: 1) use Wally's many freckles as targets during training, and 2) cry out of frustration. She decided that, if she _did_ happen to lose her cool, the former option would be one that she regretted less in the future.

Wally gaped at Artemis and held his hands out in exasperation. "I never said anything about changing!"

"You didn't have to! Your damn kiss said everything!"

"It did not!"

"Then what _did_ it say, Wall-man?" Artemis sneered, resting her hands on her hips. She was ready to unleash a biting verbal attack, no matter what stupid story Wally tried to feed her next.

"It said that I wanted to kiss you! Even though you're a sorry replacement for Roy, even though you're a snippy, bitchy she-troll, even though all you do is call me out, make fun of me, kick my ass - I wanted to kiss you!"

Except _that_ stupid story. If she allowed herself to be totally honest, Artemis would have been thrilled to hear him say that - and not only because he broke first.

She folded her arms over her chest and surveyed Wally with a wary eye - his hard breathing, his flushed face, his stubbornly set jaw, his green eyes piercing through her.

_He__'__d__ better __be__ telling __the __truth, __or__ so __help __me__ God __I __will __murder __his __skinny __ass._ She could feel her own heart pounding inside her chest and it was practically impossible to stop her fingers from shaking.

"Well, even though you're a clumsy screw-up and an immature, cocky jackass, and even though all you do is rag on me and insult me, I-!" Her rage was slowly dwindling away from stage fright. She made a choked sound before mumbling, eyes turned away, "I wanted you to kiss me."

"Then I guess we're on the same page," Wally said quietly. Both were looking everywhere but at each other.

Artemis whipped her head and glared at Wally. She took a step towards him and raised a threatening finger. "Not yet, we aren't. Don't ever even _think_ of kissing me like that again - I'd rather die than someone see me in that position with _you_."

Wally rolled his eyes and snorted. "Don't have to tell me, sister. Biggest mistake of my _life_. You were all sweaty and gross and shit- ugh."

"Oh, and you _weren__'__t_? Besides, I wasn't the one with pepperoni breath."

They exchanged twisted grimaces before Artemis brushed past Wally, casually knocking the banana off the counter as she went. She heard faint grumbling from behind as she approached the kitchen exit.

"So, Artemis?" Wally called after her. She stopped at the doorway and glanced over her shoulder. Wally had already inhaled half of the banana. "I take it that means you _did_ like it?"

Artemis clenched her jaw and rolled her eyes, shaking her head as she began down the hall.

_Damn._

* * *

><p>Whew! It's done.<p>

This part caused me great turmoil - I wrote three drafts before settling down on one, and even then I was uncertain if I liked it. I was so concerned that I was being unclear in their motives and that the two were horribly out of character and that a situation like this would never happen in the show and that this part didn't fit with the style that I wrote the other two in - but then I stepped back and thought that, by golly, this is a fan fiction, not a freakin' episode. So yeah - I'm still a little unsure of it, but I feel like I got the main point that I wanted to make about the Spitfire ship across in the end.

I'd like to give a big 'thank you' to everyone who has read this story, and a big thank you to those of you that reviewed. It was really encouraging to hear your positive feedback and words of advice, and I appreciate it all so, so much. Again, thank you!

Well, I hope you enjoyed! It's been a fun ride - definitely felt the aster._  
><em>


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